Green Bay Trout Unlimited | Take care of the fish and fishing will take care of itself

On December 1^st we held our Awards Dinner/Holiday Party at the Village Grille Events Hall. It was a wonderful evening featuring an all-you-can-eat home-style chicken buffet including baked chicken mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetable or baked beans, coleslaw, cranberry sauce, fresh bread w butter and assorted dessert bars. We were also treated to excellent entertainment by the barbershop quartet, Something Old, Something New as well as thirteen Christmas-themed door prizes courtesy of Christina Meseberg (my wife). We presented two Distinguished Service and one Member of the Year Awards. Our Distinguished Service Award is given to a member who has shown “Undying contributions giving freely of time, money, and talent for many years. It truly is like a life-time achievement award. This year’s first recipient was Bruce Duechert. Bruce has been an extremely active member for many years. He can be seen at meetings, work projects, even youth events. He has been our chapters’ representative to the Brown County Conservation Alliance for as long as I can remember. With that said, Bruce’s largest legacy to GBTU must be his many years as our Conservation Banquet Chair. He stepped down a few years ago but his blueprint on successful fundraising has remained.

The second Distinguished Service Award recipient of the evening was Doug Seidl. Doug has been on the BOD for several years, including serving as the chapter Vice-President for probably ~6 years and our State Council Chair for ~4 years. Doug is a regular at work projects and kids’ events. He is currently serving on the Conservation Banquet and GBTU Trout Educational Trail Committees. One of Doug’s largest GBTU legacies has to be his spearheading of our chapters’ work project trailer. This was a large project that took multiple years. The trailer is amazing and includes almost every tool our group needs to conduct successful habitat improvements.

Our final award given on this evening was for Member of the Year. This is presented to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding efforts over the past year. This year’s recipient was John Tilleman. John was on the BOD for several years when he approached me in, or around, September 2021 and expressed interest in filling our chapters’ vacant Treasurer’s seat. This was made official by vote on September 12^th, 2021. Our former treasurer had retired and moved out of the area, so John really did not have someone right there to answer his questions. Much of what he figured out was trial-by-fire. This has not stopped him. Over the past year John has been fantastic in his role as chapter Treasurer. On top of that, John serves on the GBTU Trout Educational Trail Committee and is a regular at our meetings.

A big thanks to everyone who came out and made it an wonderful evening !

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO FOR THE COLDWATER RESOURCES OF NE WI !!!